diff --git a/merge-ort.c b/merge-ort.c
index ee7fbe7140..3c4f64e267 100644
--- a/merge-ort.c
+++ b/merge-ort.c
@@ -19,9 +19,11 @@
 
 #include "diff.h"
 #include "diffcore.h"
+#include "dir.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "strmap.h"
 #include "tree.h"
+#include "unpack-trees.h"
 #include "xdiff-interface.h"
 
 /*
@@ -975,7 +977,48 @@ static int checkout(struct merge_options *opt,
 		    struct tree *prev,
 		    struct tree *next)
 {
-	die("Not yet implemented.");
+	/* Switch the index/working copy from old to new */
+	int ret;
+	struct tree_desc trees[2];
+	struct unpack_trees_options unpack_opts;
+
+	memset(&unpack_opts, 0, sizeof(unpack_opts));
+	unpack_opts.head_idx = -1;
+	unpack_opts.src_index = opt->repo->index;
+	unpack_opts.dst_index = opt->repo->index;
+
+	setup_unpack_trees_porcelain(&unpack_opts, "merge");
+
+	/*
+	 * NOTE: if this were just "git checkout" code, we would probably
+	 * read or refresh the cache and check for a conflicted index, but
+	 * builtin/merge.c or sequencer.c really needs to read the index
+	 * and check for conflicted entries before starting merging for a
+	 * good user experience (no sense waiting for merges/rebases before
+	 * erroring out), so there's no reason to duplicate that work here.
+	 */
+
+	/* 2-way merge to the new branch */
+	unpack_opts.update = 1;
+	unpack_opts.merge = 1;
+	unpack_opts.quiet = 0; /* FIXME: sequencer might want quiet? */
+	unpack_opts.verbose_update = (opt->verbosity > 2);
+	unpack_opts.fn = twoway_merge;
+	if (1/* FIXME: opts->overwrite_ignore*/) {
+		unpack_opts.dir = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*unpack_opts.dir));
+		unpack_opts.dir->flags |= DIR_SHOW_IGNORED;
+		setup_standard_excludes(unpack_opts.dir);
+	}
+	parse_tree(prev);
+	init_tree_desc(&trees[0], prev->buffer, prev->size);
+	parse_tree(next);
+	init_tree_desc(&trees[1], next->buffer, next->size);
+
+	ret = unpack_trees(2, trees, &unpack_opts);
+	clear_unpack_trees_porcelain(&unpack_opts);
+	dir_clear(unpack_opts.dir);
+	FREE_AND_NULL(unpack_opts.dir);
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static int record_conflicted_index_entries(struct merge_options *opt,